“Big Game” James Shields improved his record to 6-1 in a rather crazy 9-8 victory over the Orioles, Sunday in Baltimore

I’ll be blunt, I’m damn happy that the series against the Orioles is over. Baltimore, I like you. I really respect your team and what Buck Showalter’s done. And to be honest, I’m excited about the idea of a future competitive rivalry between the Rays and the O’s similar to that of the Red Sox and Yankees…minus the Neanderthal like fans of course. However, your bullpen is no joke, and I’m more than happy to see the Rays walk into Toronto, where the potential to get more than two runs on three hits in 10 plus innings is greater.

Today’s game was a hairy one to say the least. But at least the Rays offense can put a feather in their collective caps over something: after averaging a mere 3.2 runs per game in the first five games of their current eight game road trip, the Rays really broke the door open by scoring nine runs. I’m not breaking out the ticker-tape and streamers just yet; the Rays have scored, on average, only 4.16 runs per game which is just under their season average of 4.51 runs per game. What’s more, the Blue Jays are averaging 4.65 runs per game, and have won four out of their last five at home, while scoring 33 runs.

The Rays haven’t been so hot on this road trip. Going 2-4 so far, they will need take the next two games from the Blue Jays if they’re to come home Wednesday 4-4 following this eight game stint on the road. Beating a very good Blue Jays team may not be so easy. Without even focusing on the Jays, a couple of things stand in the way of the Rays going into Toronto: A) The Rays offense not scoring enough runs, and B) The starting rotation not getting quality starts.

The Rays have scored 25 runs over the course of the last six games. In that span of time, Tampa Bay has stranded 46 runners on the bags. Too, they’ve had runners in scoring position 62 times, yet they only capitalized on those 62 runners in scoring position 12 times. That’s way too many runners left on base in critical situations.

It was, however, encouraging to see Tampa Bay depend on base-hits to drive in runners instead of leaning on the big bats to hit home runs. Only two of the Rays nine runs came off of, clutch, one run blasts from Elliot Johnson and Ben Zobrist. Those runs were, in the scheme of things, very important. But, the BJ Upton/Luke Scott/Carlos Pena’s on the roster, all too often, try to play the role of hero by hitting dingers, when RBI base-hits would suffice. Tampa Bay was ultimately able to get on base and drive in runs today, with only Scott and Sean Rodriguez not finding they way on base. It was also encouraging to see Pena start to come out of his slump, going two for five with two doubles, two RBI, and one run. With the uncertainty of whether Desmond Jennings will be in the lineup in the forthcoming days, the Rays will need to make sure that approach the Blue Jays similarly to how they approached the plate today.

One problem the Rays were having was that the starting pitchers were not able to go deeper into games. But, with the exception of Matt Moore who only went 4.1 innings Saturday, the starting rotation has been able to start chewing up the innings. Jeff Niemann, who will take the bump opposite of Brandon Morrow in the first game of two two game set against the Blue Jays, was able to go seven solid innings against the Yankees. Niemann gave up only one run on four hits in that start. James Shields and Jeremy Hellickson are the two other pitchers that have been able to get quality starts on this road trip.

To me, it’s not a question of whether the pitchers are going deep enough into games. Rather, it’s a question of whether they’re giving up too many runs. Tampa Bay’s pitching is going to have to shut down a very potent Joey Bats and Co, which in turn gives the offense the opportunity to chip away a very good Brandon Morrow and Co. It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that Tampa Bay could walk away from the Rogers Center on a four game winning streak.

As we, collectively, try to put the last series behind us, Tampa Bay walks into Cockroach City to take on the O’s for a three game set. Honestly, the Rays/Yanks series could have gone in either direction, and at least Tampa Bay avoided a sweep. Nevertheless, history is history, and now it’s time for the Rays to focus on the Orioles who they’re tied with for first place in the AL East.

It will be nice to have Matt Joyce back in the lineup tonight. Desmond Jennings, however, will be relegated to pinch hitting duties following a left knee strain on May 5th. Joe Maddon noted that Jennings is “truly is day to day.”

On Wednesday night, we all saw what could happen when the Rays are firing on, well, three out of four cylinders. Hey, it’s not perfect, and Longo’s absence leaves a huge offensive void/black hole in the lineup, but it’s better than nothing! Joyce and Scott’s bats will add some extra (read: well needed) oomph in the lineup.

Lest we forget that BJ Upton does freakishly as well at Camden Yards, and will look to do his part to get the Rays out of this six game funk, where they’ve gone 2-4. It was around this time last year that BJ had a hugefour RBI night at Camden Yards, propelling the Rays to a big win. With all of those facets in working order, Tampa Bay could do some damage against the O’s, who Tampa Bay is currently tied with for first in the AL East.

Jeremy Hellickson (3-0, 2.75 ERA) looks to rebound from his shortest/least efficient start of the year on May 5th, where he lasted all of 3.2 IP while giving up 2 ER and 5 H. Hellickson threw 92 pitches (59 for strikes) in his short stint, which found the Rays, ultimately, going into extra innings and losing 4-3 in the 12th. Taking the bump against Jeremy Hellickson is LHP Dana Eveland (19-24, 5.52 major league career, 2-1, 2.84 ERA against the Rays) who will be getting his first start of the year for the Orioles, after being recalled from Triple-A Norfolk earlier in the week.

The Rays don’t have much experience against Eveland; only about 19 innings at best. Eveland’s performances haven’t really been much to write home about, posting a 14 H/6 ER/3 HR/8 BB/12 K line in those 19 innings of work. Eveland has fairly even splits against righties (.294 BAA) and lefties (.303 BAA), and is apt to leave his fastball and curveball hanging over the meat of the plate. His career 5.52 ERA speaks to that. That’s good news for Tampa Bay following the Sabathia/Soriano blunderbus that was last nights game. The starting lineup is below. Let’s Go Rays…reclaim soul possession of that number one spot in the AL East!

With the Yankmes loss today, the Rays had the division locked up. But they beat the Royals anyway so as not to back in, but to finish the season a game ahead of the perennial (ie: big-spender) powerhouses.

And yet, disrespected by the MLB and network TV. We just won the toughest division in baseball, and possibly the toughest of any division in all of major league sports. But we get the shitty day slot for our first two games? Terribly sorry, TBS/FOX/MLB, that we’re not more interesting to you. We’ll just quietly win this series, then maybe you’ll sleep through the ALCS, too.

Seriously? No. No. Wait. No. Seriously?! Really, we’re going to drop two of three against Baltimore, then another against Kansas City, then another another racing toward disaster in Kansas City (game still in progress at press time…..but looking awful). Its not like the AL East is on the line or anything. Not a good idea to go into the playoffs with some momentum.
Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhrrrrrghh.
Pitchers: the idea is to keep the other team from hitting the ball wherever they want and scoring runs.
Batters: the idea is to use the wooden thing to strike the white, round, moving thing somewhere between the white lines but away from the nine fellas standing around out there. Got it? Grrrrreat. Now back to work. There’s either four weeks or one week of baseball left this year. Which is it gonna be?

I’ve been thinking about writing a re-cap on the Rays vs. Angels series that just wrapped up at the Trop yesterday. After a lot of deliberation, I’ve decided to just move on from that series. I’m too pissed off about it, and honestly, it just doesn’t really matter that much at this point. So, here we are in the 6th inning of the first game of the most important series of the season…4 games in the Bronx vs. The Yankmes. The Yankmes are 90-59 and the Rays are 89-59, therefore, the Rays are .5 game back, with 14 regular season games left to play. It’s 4-3 Yankmes, but the Rays are making it a game as usual. So, anyway, moving on to bigger, better, and more important things!